Sunday, January 20, 2019

How Bani Israel Traveled on the Silk Road To Their Destiny

Nadene Goldfoot                                                   
Travel along the Silk Road

How did the Assyrians in 721 BCE take their northern Israel tribal captives back to their homes in Assyria?  On the Silk Road that they were creating.
                                                          

200 years later,from 597-586 BCE, the Babylonians overcame the Assyrians, inheriting their lands and people.  They went back and captured the remaining tribes of Judah, Simeon and parts of Benjamin left who had become the land of Judah and took them to Babylonia.  They must have also traveled on the Silk Road.  

From the map above one can see the Mediterranean Sea and the red circle over the northern part of Israel.  It would go through Afghanistan and Pakistan on its way to China, a most important route for history.  The Chinese had built their GREAT WALL OF CHINA to protect this trade route to their country.  They were aware of the route during the  Han dynasty (207 BCE–220 CE). The Han dynasty expanded the Central Asian section of the trade routes around 114 BCE through the missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy Zhang Qian

                                                    

The Silk Road was an ancient network of trade routes that connected the East and West. It was central to cultural interaction between the regions for many centuries. The Silk Road primarily refers to the terrestrial routes connecting East Asia and Southeast Asia with East AfricaWest Asia and Southern Europe.  It was the Assyrians and Babylonians who had expanded this route to their lands first before anyone thought of going further east.  

In 475 BCE), the Royal Road of the Persian Empire ran some 2,857 km (1,775 mi) from the city of Susa, Persia (Iran)  on the Karun (250 km (155 mi) east of the Tigris) to the port of Smyrna (modern İzmir in Turkey) on the Aegean Sea.[27] It was maintained and protected by the Achaemenid Empire (c. 500–330 BCE) which was the  First Persian Empire founded by Cyrus the Great, 
and had postal stations and relays at regular intervals. By having fresh horses and riders ready at each relay, royal couriers could carry messages and traverse the length of the road in 9 days, while normal travelers took about 3 months.
                                                     
Queen Esther with her Uncle Mordecai
of the tribe of Benjamin in Shushan, a palace official,
who told her of the plot 
        
Cyrus the Great has long been thought to be the son of Queen Esther, the Jewish beauty selected to be the Queen of King Ahasuerus (name in our Tanakh (Old Testament) in the Book of Esther).  

Cyrus II died in 529 BCE and was the King of Persia (Iran).  He had many conquests and had overrun the Babylonian Empire, including Judah and its last king, Zedekiah (597-586 BCE).  
                                                       

Rebuilding 2nd Temple of Solomon-on today's Temple Mount
in Jerusalem where 1st stood 

Cyrus was a good and kind king.  He created an enlightened policy towards the people he had overtaken and in 538 BCE, had granted permission to the exiles of Judah to go back to Jerusalem which was their homeland and rebuild the Temple. (Ezra 1:1-44;  II Chronicles 36:22-1=3.  This was so unlike the Assyrians, or any kings of that period.  
                                                       
This is why it is either fact or legend that he was Esther's child, a product of the Persian king and the Jewish mother.  The BOOK OF ESTHER  was written in the Persian period  before 330 BCE.  In the 2nd Temple days, the scroll of Esther was already included  in the canon of scrolls to be read in the TEMPLE.  iT WAS READ ON PURIM AND WAS CALLED THE MEGILLAH.  
                                                      

The BOOK OF ESTHER tells us how Esther became Queen and how she was told of the plot to kill all the Jews in the Empire.  She had to tell her husband, the king, and she fasted for 3 days to get the strength and courage to do so, as she had to confess that she was Jewish to do this.  (I think also she needed to lose a few pounds and get into that special dress that might help).  She stopped the plot that had already started, and saved all their lives.  
                                                     

It was Haman who was the King's trusted adviser that was the evil man wanting all Jews dead.  Haman is associated with Hitler today, at least in my mind if not all Jews.  

Jews have traveled the Silk Road since its existence.  They became successful traders, to the frustration of Europeans who were not familiar with its ins and outs.  Jews were kept from entering any of the trades of the day, so fell back on their trading skills and wound up lending money to kings and queens and such to make a living for themselves and their families.  They honed their skills as businessmen this way, on the SILK ROAD.    


Research:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road
Textbook:  2nd edition-MIDDLE EAST-PAST & PRESENT By Yahya Armajani, Thomas M. Ricks
https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=adk&hsimp=yhs-adk_sbnt&type=A1&param2=9a725b99-89fa-40ed-a967-9d7a51679ece&param3=template_~US~appfocus1&param4=d-ccc2-lp0-dsf_templates--bb8~Chrome~achaemenid+empire~3797A7885BDEADF949976CE4785FE416&param1=20181221&p=achaemenid+empire
https://www.ruthfullyyours.com/2011/08/03/victor-sharpe-the-epic-journeys-of-the-jewish-radanites/




2 comments:

  1. The Achaemenid Empire (/əˈkiːmənɪd/; , Xšassa (Old Persian) "The Empire" c. 550–330 BC), also called the First Persian Empire, was an empire based in Western Asia founded by Cyrus the Great. Ranging at its greatest extent from the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper in the west to the Indus Valley in the east, it was larger than any previous empire in history, spanning 5.5 million square kilometers. Incorporating various peoples of different origins and faiths, it is notable for its successful model of a centralized, bureaucratic administration (through satraps under the King of Kings), for building infrastructure such as road systems and a postal system, the use of an official language across its territories, and the development of civil services and a large professional army. The empire's successes inspired similar systems in later empires.

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  2. In 559 BC, Cambyses I the Elder was succeeded as the king of Anšān by his son Cyrus the Great, who also succeeded the still-living Arsames as the King of Persia, thus reuniting the two realms. Cyrus is considered to be the first true king of the Persian Empire, as his predecessors were subservient to the Medes. Cyrus the Great conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylon. Cyrus was politically shrewd, modelling himself as the saviour of conquered nations, often allowing displaced people to return, and giving his subjects freedom to practice local customs. To reinforce this image, he instituted policies of religious freedom, and restored temples and other infrastructure in the newly acquired cities (Most notably the Jewish inhabitants of Babylon, as recorded in the Cyrus Cylinder and the Tanakh). As a result of his tolerant policies he came to be known by those of the Jewish faith as "the anointed of the Lord

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